Oh, and Rob( smoggyrob)....Don't know if you'll read this, but I lost your contact info, so couldn't send mine.If I don't see you in Santa Monica(I may not make it this Saturday), please send it to me at the center's e-mail: dharmazencenter@gmail.com...I'm stupid enough to put the center's e-mail on here, but not nearly stupid enough to put on my own! :)

@ various "Really"s: You appear to suffer from the same fault as I, Really Really, in that you're spending too much at the keyboard lately, and hence may also need to "get a life" - Although personally, I find the admonition old, tired, condescending and nearly always a projection - yes, projection - of the speaker's own unwanted/unacceptable thoughts. You certainly need to get your own identity.

Answer to pretend Really @ 8.27pm:Yes.

Having created Really for my own amusement, and the delight and edification of Hardcore Zen blog readers, I have decided that others, probably Harry ;-), are having even more fun being Really than I am. So have at it, Reallys. It's all yours. Take it away.

Last night was hot and humid. I could not seem to get comfortable in bed. So without much hope I reached behind my head, located my pillow and turned it over to the cool side. With that seemingly minor action, I totally improved my situation. It was a spontaneous yet well conceived move. I think that no one could have performed it better.

I really liked Brad's talk on not knowing. It reminded me somewhat of Toni Packer.

"Wondering comes out of a moment of not going anywhere in thought, a moment of stopping—taking a deep breath and exhaling. It is a moment of not knowing where to go, because there is no place to go. It's realizing that all of the places thought can go to are fantasyPeople frequently ask me, "Why is my mind and life so terribly restless?" I can't answer this for you. Of course I can give answers, but we need to realize for ourselves that the nervous impulse to search for explanations and relief, and the impatient thrashing about to be free, is just more brain activity. Can there be a humble moment of being here without knowing? Can we let pain, discomfort and uncertainty be here without knowing?" --from a talk given by Toni Packer

I found your talk in El Paso to be really interesting. I know you won't read this and I can understand why. The cyber-stalkers comments are just too depressing to read. WOW, do I feel good about myself after perusing some of these comments. Hopefully these guys will continue to languish in their basements. Cheers!

For a blog related to Japanese pop culture there is here a disturbing lack of mention of the 70s Japanese TV masterpiece (with much reference to Buddhism... some of it wonderfully spurious) called "Monkey".

Mark Foote thanks Brad Warner for his wonderful writing and beautifully interwoven video and MP3- nice to get to know someone, online. In "Indian Buddhism" by A.K. Warder, pg 216-217, we discover that of the five issues that divided Buddhism in third century B.C., only one could not be resolved, basically the issue of whether or not an arahant could have a wet dream. On that, the entire order divided into what was later to become Mahayana and Hinayana.Thought you'd like that. Also like to contribute that I have finished a writing, "an unauthorized and incomplete guide to zazen"; you can google "the mudra of zen" and then go to the bottom of the page for a link. I think the difficulty in Zen is to say something substantive and positive on the topic; it took me a long time to come up with this. Please help me carry it on, if you can; yours, Mark